Apparatus for processing sheet material

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for processing sheet material, comprising cutting means to cut the sheet material and which comprise an elongated longitudinally extending bed on which the material is supported during cutting, material supplying means which reciprocate relatively to the cutting means in a longitudinal direction, driving means for feeding the sheet material towards the cutting means, deflecting and guiding means for passing the material towards the cutting means, and a carrier for supporting rolls of sheet material to be processed, the carrier being movable with the material supplying means.

United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,795,166

Brand Mar. 5, 1974 [54] APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING SHEET 512,800 H1894Buchel 83/220 X MATERIAL 528,502 10/1894 Bennett 83/220 847,536 3/1907Zimmerman 83/650 X [76] Inventor: Karl Brand, am St1ch .2, 4125 RlehenSwltzerland Primary ExaminerJ. M. Meister [22] Filed: Feb. 15, 1972Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Kurt Kelman [21] Appl. No.: 226,612

[57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apparatus forprocessing sheet material, comprising Feb. 24, 1971 Switzerland 2688/71cutting means to cut the Sheet material and which comprise an elongatedlongitudinally extending bed on 52 us. (:1 83/409, 83/220, 83/417, whichthe material is Supported dun'ng Cutting, mate- 83/436 83/650 rialsupplying means which reciprocate relatively to 51 1111.01. B65h 17/5the Cutting means in a longitudinal direction, driving 5 Field fSeal-chm 83/219 220 249, 401, 418, means for feeding the sheet vmaterialtowards the cut- 83/421, 649, 650, 436, 533, 534, 535, 542, ng means,deflecting and guiding means for passing 562, 409, 417 the materialtowards the cutting means, and a carrier for supporting rolls of sheetmaterial to be processed, 5 References Cited the carrier being movablewith the material supplying means.

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAIENTED MAR 5 I974 SHEEI 1 BF 5 PAIENTEDMAR5 I974 SHEEI 2 0f 5 Q Q Til 1 VII.

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FIG .3

PATENTED SHEET 5 BF 5 APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING SHEET MATERIAL Theinvention relates to apparatus for processing sheet material, forexample natural or simulated leather or textile material, the apparatusincluding cutting means, preferably a stamping machine having apivotally mounted stamping arm.

Flat blanks are stamped out of natural leather, simulated leather orother plastics films and textile materials by means of stampingapparatus which permits economic operation. As regards leather, stampingapparatus with a pivotally mounted stamping arm has proved verysatisfactory for some decades, because of good visibility of thematerial being processed and the consequent efficient use of materialand ease of choosing the portions of material from which the desiredblanks can be made. Owing to the increased use of simulated leather andother plastics materials, textile fabrics, etc supplied chiefly in theform of rolled-up webs, and the limited size of the stamping tables inpivoted arm stamping apparatus, the material processed has been cutapproximately to table size and a plurality of layers have beenprocessed simultaneously. This has resulted in a relatively highexpenditure on work and high wastage.

Pivoted arm stamping apparatus with larger stamping tables displaceablelaterally beneath the arm were built to overcome these difficulties. Alimited number of rolls of material, at most one or two rolls forreasons of space and to permit operation, can be suspended behind or onthe front of these stamping tables. The number of layers is thereforelimited to one or two although a larger number could usually be stampedfrom the material, which is substantially homogeneous over its entirearea. The efficiency of a work station of this kind is thereforerelatively low, and it has so far been impossible to accommodate largediameter rolls, for example of materials such as simulated fur linings,felt, foam material, etc owing to the shortage of available space in thevicinity of the machines.

Portal-type stamping machines, however, can process a plurality oflayers of this type of material supplied directly off rolls.Unfortunately these machines are relatively bulky, expensive andsuitable primarily for large batch production, whereas pivoted armstamping machines, being relatively compact and cheaper, are bettersuited to small and medium sized batches of blanks.

An object of the invention is therefore to provide apparatus whichpermits a traditional, preferably pivoted arm stamping, apparatus toprocess a larger number of layers of sheet material from rolls thanhitherto.

According to the invention, apparatus for processing sheet materialcomprises cutting means which are operative to cut the material andwhich comprises an elongated longitudinally extending bed on which thematerial is supported during cutting, material supplying means which aremovable within end limits relatively to the cutting means in alongitudinal direction and which include first driving means foreffecting longitudinal movement of the material supplying means, seconddriving means for feeding the sheet material towards the cutting meansand deflecting and guiding means for passing the material towards thecutting means, and a carrier for supporting rolls of sheet material tobe processed, the carrier being coupled to the material supplying means.

Three embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way ofexample, with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of apparatus representing the first embodiment,looking in the direction of advance of material supplying means of theapparatus,

FIG. 2 is a front view of the apparatus of FIG. 1, looking in thedirection of the arrow II in FIG. 1, the supplying means being shown infull lines in its left-hand limit position and in broken lines in itsright-hand limit position,

FIG. 3 is a perspective detail view showing the drive for the material,

FIG. 4 is a perspective detail of the mounting for the material supplyrolls, as seen from the operating side,

FIG. 5 is a stamping maching having a pivotally mounted stamping armwith a second embodiment of a material supply device movable withrespect to the stamping machine, represented in a view similar to thatof FIG. 1, and

FIG. 6 is an embodiment in which the material supply device is securedto the floor and the stamping machine with its pivotally mounted arm isarranged to be movable with regard to the device, shown in a viewsimilar to that of FIG. 5.

FIG. 1 shows a stamping machine 1 with a pivoted arm 2 which can beadjusted in height by means of a handwheel 3 and swung manually about avertical column 5 by means of a handle 4. The bottom portion of thestamping machine 1 rests on a plinth 6, which preferably completelysurrounds the machine base, and has a stamping table 7 normally servingto support a somewhat resilient baseplate suitable for the materialbeing stamped.

The supply apparatus 11 consists essentially of material supplying means12 which are displaceable along the operators side of the stampingmachine 11 within a given range, and a portion coupled to the materialsupply means 12 and designated the material roll carrier 13.

The material supplying means 12 comprise a base frame 14, which isdisplaceable along the operators side of the stamping machine 1 onrollers 15, either on a preferably flat runway 16 with or withoutguiding elements, or on a track arrangement (not shown). A carryingframe 17 standing substantially vertically at the front of the stampingmachine 1 is mounted on the base frame 14. The carrying frame consistsessentially of two lateral columns 18 connected at their tops to a tabletop 19, which is supported on the stamping table 7 of the machine 1 bymeans of'resilient rollers 20. The table top 19 can therefore movelongitudinally over the stamping table 7 when the base frame 14 moveslongitudinally over the runway 16. The table top 19 is at least as longas the width of the sheet or web material being processed and at leastas wide as the maximum radius of the arm 2.

The longitudinal motion of the base frame 14 relative to the stampingmachine is produced by a drive unit comprising a geared motor 21 (shownin broken lines in FIG. 1) which is mounted on the plinth 6 and which,by way of a sprocket 22, drives a chain (not shown) supported by chaincarrying members (also not shown), of which one stringer engages withthe sprocket wheel 22 and the other is connected to driving means 23mounted on the base frame 14. The maximum travel of the table top 19 maybe limited in a known manner by limit switch means and depends on thewidth of the web material being processed by the stamping machine.

As the detail in FIG. 3 shows for the mounting on the right-hand side,the carrying frame 17 has a roller arrangement generally designated 24,a simple form of which is shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. A bearing 25 mountedon the carrying frame columns 18 on each side of the base frame 14supports the shaft 26 of a rear roller 27 which has a driving device, inthis case a cranked handle 28. Alternatively, of course, the shaft 26may be driven by a geared motor or similar device. Substantially levelwith the rear roller 27 there is a front roller 29, the end 30 of whoseshaft is mounted in a U-shaped slot in the upper end of a pivotableupright 31, to facilitate removal of the roller 29. The upright 31 ispivoted on the carrying column 18 by means of a pivot bearing 32 andcooperates with a set-screw 34, which acts on a plate 33 fixed to thecolumn 18, to urge the front roller 29 on to the rear roller 27. Thisfeature serves, as described in detail below, to clamp the web materialbetween the rollers 27, 29 so that it can be fed forwards by the drivenroller 27. Identically or similarly equipped pivotable arms may ofcourse be provided for the rear roller 27 (in a manner not shown inFIGS. 1 and 3) and in respect to the column on the opposite side of thecarrying frame 17 from the column 18 for the front roller. Some otherclamping member may be substituted for the setscrew 34, for example aspring operated by a toggle lever. Also, some other method and means maybe used to urge the front roller 29 on to the rear roller in order toengage the layers of web material clamped between them.

A tilting frame structure 36 mounted above the base frame 14 has a cover35 forming an access platform and bears deflecting rollers 37, 38 alongits longer sides. The structure 36 can be tilted as indicated by dottedlines in FIG. 1, about an axis which may coincide with that of thedeflecting roller 38. The frame structure 36 and deflecting roller 38are preferably supported on a single shaft (not shown) mounted in thebase frame 14. A toggle locking lever 39 is provided to keep thestructure 36 in its upper position. The cover 35 is approximately as farfrom the floor or runway 16 as the plinth 6 below the stamping machine,and it forms a platform on which the machine operator stands.Preferably, covering means (not shown) are provided below the platform35 to keep dirt off the web of material passing below it, as mentionedhereinafter. Similarly, covering and supporting means 40 are providedbetween the base frame 14 and the structure 36, to prevent sagging webmaterial from touching the floor or runway 16.

The material roll carrier 13, comprising a carriage generally designated42 connected to the base frame 14 by releasable bars 41, is connected tothe material supply means 12 and is longitudinally movable therewith.The carriage has a chassis 44 which is supported on rollers 43 and whichin turn carries supporting means 45 spaced from one another in thedirection of advance of the carrier 13 over a distance corresponding tothe maximum width of the rolls of material expected for processing. Thesupporting means 45 are provided with brackets 46 (four in theembodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) which carry the bearing systems forthe shafts centreing the rolls of material. FIG. 4 shows an embodimentof one of these bearing systems.

FIG. 4 shows a beam 47 carrying, as the supporting means 46, theabove-mentioned brackets in the form of flat-section angle bracketswelded to the beam 47. Rollers 50 (omitted from FIGS. 1 and 2 for thesake of clarity) mounted for example in ball bearings on the bracket 46provide a rotary mounting for the shaft 49 supporting each roll 48 ofmaterial. The shaft 49 is held on the running surfaces of the rollers 50by means of a swing lever 51, movable about a pivot 52 on the beam 47.This swing lever may have a friction covering (not shown) on itsunderside in the vicinity of the shaft 49, and it is preferably clampedon to the shaft 49 by easily and rapidly releasable clamping means. Tothis end a bolt 53 (FIG. 4) which can swivel anticlockwise and ismovably mounted at its bottom end on the bent end portion of the bracket46, can be slid sideways into a slot on the outer end of the swing lever51. A wingnut placed on the bolt 53 enables the swing lever 51 to beurged on to the shaft 49 to a chosen degree.

Although the material roll carrier shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is designed totake four supply rolls 48, the roll carrier may of course take more orfewer rolls of material. Also, the supporting means need not be simpleuprights or brackets as illustrated.

If the supply rolls are initially very heavy, thev shaft receiving means(FIG. 4) may advantageously be provided with a driving device, whicheither acts on one or both rollers 50 or is coupled directly to theshaft 49, in order to drive the rolls 48 when the web material is drawnforward (see below). This drive may be such that the various rolls canbe driven at the same or different speeds.

Operation of the apparatus is as follows. First the required or maximumpossible number of rolls 48 of the same or different materials,preferably of equal widths, are placed on the roll carrier 13. Thepivoting structure 36 is tilted up, and the front roller 29 of the feedroller system 24 is removed. The beginnings of the webs of material,starting with the bottom roll, are then drawn out. The webs 54 to 57 ofmaterial are first placed loosely round the deflecting roller 38 and arethen drawn substantially along the chain-dotted line 58 over the frontedge 59 of the table top 19. When all the webs of material have beenpassed round the deflecting rol ler 38 in this way, they are preferablygripped together by lowering the arm 2 or by some other suitable means.Then two operations are possible: either the front roller 29 is replacedand pressed on to the rear, rigidly mounted roller 27, and the group ofwebs is made to run as indicated by the chain-dotted line 60 so that theindividual webs 54 to 57 are fairly taut, whereupon the tiltingstructure 36 is tilted back into its horizontal position; or the tiltingstructure 36.can be folded down before the front roller 29 is replacedand pressed on, and the front roller 29 can be brought into the positionshown in FIG. 1 afterwards. In either case, additional web material isdrawn off the rolls 48, and the group of webs subsequently follows apath indicated by a solid line 61. The operator can now mount the accessplatform 35, and once he has lifted the arm 2 off the webs, repositionedthe group of webs ready for work by means of the drive 28 acting on therear roller, and if necessary shifted the table top 19 into its startingposition, he can begin work with the stamping machine. As the workprogresses, the operator shifts the table top along with a suitablecontrol, preferably a press-button control 62 (FIG. 2), acting on themotor 21.

Solid lines in FIG. 2 show the material supply means 12 and roll carrier13 in a position corresponding to the beginning of work on the right ofthe web. The webs have been omitted for the sake of clarity. The supplymeans 12 and the roll carrier 13 can be displaced in the direction of anarrow V in accordance with the progress of the work or however desired.A fragmentary view in broken lines on the right in FIG. 2, omittingunnecessary details, shows the right-hand limit position, in which workcan be carried out on the left-hand part of the web.

In FIG. 5 the pivoted arm stamping machine 71, is associated withmaterial supply means 72 on the operating side of the stamping machine71, and a material roll carrier 73. These two elements areinterconnected by a releasable bar 75 and a connecting portion 74 whichis partly shown in broken lines and which traverses a space beneath orin the lower part of the base of the stamping machine 1. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 5 the foot 76 of the stamping machine 71 standson a plinth 77 defining the space.

In this embodiment also the material supply means 72 and the materialroll carrier 73 can move on rollers 79, 79, 80, 80, 80" along themachine table 81 relative to the stamping machine 71, which is fixed inposition on the machine room floor 78. The rollers may run either on thefloor 78 or on rails (not shown). The supply means are driven by a motor82 fixed to the machine base, in the same way as described withreference to FIG. 1. This motor may drive the supply means by way of achain driving device. FIG. 5 shows two systems 83 and 84 for thisdevice; these systems may havethe same basic construction as thecorresponding system in FIG. 1. The system 84 is connected to the motorby a shaft 85 (illustrated diagrammatically) and serves primarily toensure exactly parallel motion of the positions of the supply means infront of and behind the stamping machine. The system 84 might, ofcourse, act on'the roll carrier 73 instead of the connecting portion 74.

Both the supply means and the roll carrier 73 may be of substantiallythe same construction as was described with reference to FIG. 1. Forexample, the access platform 86, 86 may fold up in the same way, asshown by broken lines, to make it easier to draw the webs of material 88to 91 off the rolls 87 into the space below the machine foot 76 and topass the material round the deflecting roller 92. A covering element 93is provided to prevent the material from touching the floor of themachine room. To protect the operator, a guardrail 94 may be provided onthe side of the access platform 86 adjacent the machine room. Thedeflecting roller 95 on the roller carrier side may of course be mountedon the chassis 96 instead of near the driving means 84. The connectingportion 74 may be overhung in order to make it extend through the spacebelow the stamping machine, in which case the rollers 80 are notrequired.

FIG. 6 illustrates a variant in which the material supply meansgenerally designated 101 and the connecting portion 102 passing beneaththe stamping machine are supported permanently on the machine room floorby means of bearing elements 103, whereas the pivoted arm stampingmachine 104 can move, relative to the supply means, on rollers 106supported on bearing rails 105. The reciprocating motion of the stampingmachine is produced by a motor 107 whichproduces relative motion betweenthe stamping machine and the supply means, and which may be rigidlymounted either on the supply means (as illustrated) or on the stampingmachine.

The material roll carrier, designated 108 in FIG. 6, may be coupled tothe connecting portion 102 by means of a bar 109 and be displaceable onrollers 110 as illustrated. Alternatively, it too may be supportedpermanently on the machine room floor by means of bearing elements (notshown).

The remaining part of the supply means, particularly the material feedapparatus 111, the access platform 112, 112' the guardrail 113 and thecovering element 1 14 which prevents the webs 117 to 120 of material forprocessing (drawn off the supply rolls 121 and running over thedeflecting rollers 115, 1 16) from touching the floor below, may befundamentally the same as or similar to those described with referenceto FIG. 1 or 5. Similarly, the control for the longitudinal movement ofthe stamping machine may be similar or substantially the same in designas in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, in which the material supply meansare movable instead of the stamping machine.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for processing sheet material, comprising incombination, a stationary cutting means which is operative to cutportions of sheet material and which comprises an elongatedlongitudinally extending bed on which the sheet material is supportedduring cutting; sheet material supplying means which is movable withinend limits relatively to the cutting means in a longitudinal directionand which include first driving means for effecting longitudinalmovement of the ma terial supplying means, second driving means forfeeding the sheet material towards the cutting means, and deflecting andguiding means for passing the material towards the cutting means; acarrier for supporting rolls of sheet material to be processed, saidcarrier being coupled to the material supplying means; and wherein thematerial supplying means comprises a substantially horizontal base frameand a substantially vertical carrying frame mounted on the base frame,the base frame including at least part of the deflecting and guidingmeans for the sheet material to be processed, said carrying frameincluding at least part of the second driving means for feeding thematerial.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein rollers are mounted on thesubstantially horizontal base frame of the supplying means for movementalong a runway.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first driving elements comprisea driving motor and a drive sprocket and the second driving elementscomprise a chain which is connected to the material supplying means andwhich meshes with the sprocket.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a table top mounted on the carryingframe is movable above the bed and is at least as long as the width ofthe material to be processed and at least as wide as the maximum radiusof a pivotally mounted stamping arm positioned above the bed.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said guide means includes a tiltingstructure mounted on the base frame and carries an access platformsupported on the base frame.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said carrier is a carriage havingrollers disposed for movement on a runway.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said carrier is coupled to saidmaterial supplying means by coupling means.

1. An apparatus for processing sheet material, comprising incombination, a stationary cutting means which is operative to cutportions of sheet material and which comprises an elongatedlongitudinally extending bed on which the sheet material is supportedduring cutting; sheet material supplying means which is movable withinend limits relatively to the cutting means in a longitudinal directionand which include first driving means for effecting longitudinalmovement of The material supplying means, second driving means forfeeding the sheet material towards the cutting means, and deflecting andguiding means for passing the material towards the cutting means; acarrier for supporting rolls of sheet material to be processed, saidcarrier being coupled to the material supplying means; and wherein thematerial supplying means comprises a substantially horizontal base frameand a substantially vertical carrying frame mounted on the base frame,the base frame including at least part of the deflecting and guidingmeans for the sheet material to be processed, said carrying frameincluding at least part of the second driving means for feeding thematerial.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein rollers are mounted on thesubstantially horizontal base frame of the supplying means for movementalong a runway.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first drivingelements comprise a driving motor and a drive sprocket and the seconddriving elements comprise a chain which is connected to the materialsupplying means and which meshes with the sprocket.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein a table top mounted on the carrying frame is movableabove the bed and is at least as long as the width of the material to beprocessed and at least as wide as the maximum radius of a pivotallymounted stamping arm positioned above the bed.
 5. The apparatus of claim1 wherein said guide means includes a tilting structure mounted on thebase frame and carries an access platform supported on the base frame.6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said carrier is a carriage havingrollers disposed for movement on a runway.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1wherein said carrier is coupled to said material supplying means bycoupling means.